Should You Avoid JMP Group Inc. (JMP)?

Before putting in our own effort and resources into finding a good investment, we can quickly utilize hedge fund expertise to give us a quick glimpse of whether that stock could make for a good addition to our portfolios. The odds are not exactly stacked in investors’ favor when it comes to beating the market, as evidenced by the fact that less than 49% of the stocks in the S&P 500 did so during the 12-month period ending October 30. However, 63% of hedge funds’ top 30 stock picks from the index did beat the market, and returned nearly twice as much on average as the index. Thus, we can see that the tireless research and efforts of hedge funds to identify winning stocks can work to our advantage when we know how to use the data. While not all of their picks will be winners, our odds are much better following their best stock picks than trying to go it alone.

Is JMP Group Inc. (NYSE:JMP) the right investment to pursue these days? The best stock pickers are turning less bullish. The number of long hedge fund positions shrunk by 1 recently. JMP was in 4 hedge funds’ portfolios at the end of the third quarter of 2015. There were 5 hedge funds in our database with JMP holdings at the end of the previous quarter. The level and the change in hedge fund popularity aren’t the only variables you need to analyze to decipher hedge funds’ perspectives. A stock may witness a boost in popularity but it may still be less popular than similarly priced stocks. That’s why at the end of this article we will examine companies such as Energy Fuels Inc Ordinary Shares (Canada) (NYSEMKT:UUUU), Supercom Ltd (NASDAQ:SPCB), and Consumer Portfolio Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:CPSS) to gather more data points.

With all of this in mind, we’re going to take a look at the latest action surrounding JMP Group Inc. (NYSE:JMP).

What does the smart money think about JMP Group Inc. (NYSE:JMP)?

At Q3’s end, a total of 4 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey held long positions in this stock, a change of -20% from the previous quarter. With hedgies’ capital changing hands, there exists a select group of key hedge fund managers who were upping their stakes significantly (or already accumulated large positions).

When looking at the institutional investors followed by Insider Monkey, Royce & Associates, managed by Chuck Royce, holds the most valuable position in JMP Group Inc. (NYSE:JMP). Royce & Associates has a $4.4 million position in the stock, comprising less than 0.1%% of its 13F portfolio. The second most bullish fund manager is Renaissance Technologies, managed by Jim Simons, which holds a $0.8 million position; the fund has less than 0.1%% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Some other hedge funds and institutional investors that hold long positions contain Andy Redleaf’s Whitebox Advisors, and Paul J. Isaac’s Arbiter Partners Capital Management.